{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

Trump, White House stir Friday feud with news media

President Donald Trump drew loud cheers as he denounced the news media at a gathering of conservative activists on Friday outside Washington, as the White House scrapped with reporters over a stories related to Russia in the morning, and then barred certain news organizations from an afternoon briefing with the Press Secretary.

“A few days ago, I called the fake news the “enemy of the people,” and they are, they are the enemy of the people,” the President said at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

“I’m against the people that make up stories make up sources,” as Mr. Trump said that reporters should not be allowed to do stories that use anonymous sources.

The day began with the White House disputing press reports that raised questions about contacts between top White House officials and the FBI, over reports of investigations by the feds of links between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, a topic that has routinely aggravated Mr. Trump and his aides.

“Major pushback on FBI-White House story,” read the White House Pool report by Dan Freedman of Hearst Newspapers:

“What you guys have done is indefensible and inaccurate,” said Press Secretary Sean Spicer in a tone that was described as being heated.

“What sane person would not want to set the record straight?” Spicer asked in a morning gaggle that was not on camera.

Originally, the Friday press briefing at the White House had been scheduled for 1:30 pm in the White House Briefing Room – but it was subsequently changed to an “off-camera” gathering in Spicer’s office.

But – it was invitation only – and left many reporters on the outside.

Scene in the White House briefing room as reporters got turned away from the gaggle in Spicer's office. pic.twitter.com/UvIW7rbGzx

“We want to make sure we answer your questions, but we don’t need to be on camera every day,” he told reporters.

Among the organizations not allowed in to his afternoon gaggle were CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Politico and others – while news media seen more favorable to the Trump White House were in attendance, like Breitbart, the Washington Times and the One America Network.

(That audio was provided by Steven Portnoy of CBS Radio, who shared his recording with other radio news organizations.)

The move to keep certain news organizations out drew criticism from the White House Correspondents Association, which protested “strongly against how today’s gaggle is being handled by the White House.”

The New York Times described the exclusion as a “highly unusual breach of relations between the White House and its press corps.”

Reporters in the briefing cited one quote from Sean Spicer, in which he said the Trump White House “is more accessible than probably any prior administration.”

Numerous White House reporters have split up the duties of transcribing the Spicer gaggle to share with their colleagues who were excluded.